1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a novel system for exterminating insects in an existing building, and particularly to such a system which may be installed after the building has been built.
2. Description of the Prior Art
All over the world, insects are undesirable inhabitants in homes, commercial buildings and industrial buildings for many obvious reasons. As a result, many systems have been suggested to rid these buildings of such insects. In Florida, where the climate is both warm and humid, insects invade the buildings, even when all of the outside walls and foundations are made of concrete and their outside walls are sealed on the outside surfaces.
Contemporary methods of exterminating infestations of insects in homes and places of business include spraying the perimeters of the rooms and the buildings with insecticide, and/or fogging the rooms and even the entire building with insecticide. Such methods are temporary, only partially successful and involve a great waste of time, money and chemicals.
It is a fact that cockroaches, silver fish, palmetto bugs, etc. live and multiply in the walls of the buildings. Spraying the baseboards and the perimeters of the rooms, and/or fogging entire rooms only reaches a small part of the insect population. Insects simply return to their nests in and between the interior and exterior walls of the buildings, deep in the structure of the building where they are protected from such insecticide treatment and continue to live and multiply.
Other contemporary methods attempt to prevent invasion by insects by applying liquid insecticides to the foundation below the grade through hollows in the concrete block foundation wall, as described for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,915,848 to J. H. Giffen and 3,513,586 to G. P. Meyer et al. Such insecticides are only partially successful in providing a barrier to the invasion of the building by insects, but do little toward eradicating nests in the walls of the building where the insects live and multiply.
It is an object of this invention to provide a novel fumigation system for exterminating insects in an existing building.
It is a particular object of this invention to provide an insect-extermination system which treats the problem at its source rather than its symptoms.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an insect-extermination system which can be installed in an existing building after it has been constructed.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an insect-extermination system whose component parts and whose installation are compatible with current practical construction practice.
Another object of this invention is to provide a built-in extermination system that can be fed with insecticide and operated by the occupant of the building being treated.
Another object of this invention is to provide a built-in extermination system which applies insecticide into the cavity between the interior and exterior walls of the building and not into the living and working spaces of the building.
Still another object of this invention is to provide an extermination system which applies insecticide into the voids in the walls of the building and not into the living or working spaces of the building.
Another object of this invention is to provide a fumigation system that applies fumigant into the voids in the walls of the building and which takes advantage of the ability of the active ingredients of the fumigant to diffuse through the walls into the places where insects nest.